from Team Valor

Versailles, KY — A column on the United States Trotting Association’s website about deterring cheats across horse racing is the first nominee for the 2015 Stan Bergstein Writing Award.

The award presented by Team Valor International will cover the period from Nov. 2, 2014 to Nov. 1, 2015.

Chris Wittstruck, an attorney and director for the Standardbred Owners Association of New York, wrote the Nov. 3 piece titled “Watching the Cheaters Cheat,” in which he asserts that catching drug cheats in the act can be racing’s most effective means of deterrence.

“Catching a drug perpetrator in the act red handed is more significant than finding a bad substance in a sample,” Wittstruck wrote. “We don’t convict test tubes; we convict people. A positive sample occasions a rule violation. Tying administration to the affirmative act of a specific person via eyewitness observation could lead to a criminal conviction. Soliciting tips, developing leads, conducting professional surveillance, obtaining warrants — hard, old fashioned legwork — is what’s needed.”

The full column is available here.

Team Valor CEO Barry Irwin, who created the $25,000 award in 2011 to honor Bergstein’s hard-hitting writing for Daily Racing Form and many Standardbred publications, said Wittstruck’s piece embodies that legacy.

“This is a Stan Bergstein kind of column with an important focus on human surveillance and observation to catch and deter drug cheats,” Irwin said.

Lucas Marquardt of the Thoroughbred Daily News received the 2014 Stan Bergstein Writing Award on Nov. 14 for a story on synthetic racetracks.

The award is open to any story about horse racing that appears in a North American publication or website.